Google Plus Local Marketing

Want to improve your business’s reach in your local area? Then you’ll definitely need to invest in Google Plus local marketing. Here’s why optimising your business on Google is so important to its long-term success, and how you can get a leg up on the competition.

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Why Local Marketing?

You might ask the question: Why local marketing? Why not spread your marketing efforts over both local AND global reach?

The reason is simple. Today, fewer and fewer people actually wake up their PC’s, log on to Google, and then search for your business. Instead, everything happens instantly, because people use their mobile phones to search for establishments in their area – right HERE, right NOW.

People are looking for businesses like yours in real-time. And if you don’t optimize your business for local marketing on Google, your potential customers will likely end up with your competition instead.

Google+ Local Optimisation

Now, when it comes to search, Google is still #1. Optimizing your Google+ account for local marketing will make it rank higher than any of your other social media profiles, so it’s best to start there.

Optimization for Google doesn’t just involve your Google+ account by the way – it also involves a complete audit of your online presence and ranking. Basically you’ll need to check where your business is, in relation to your competition in your area, and where you need to go.

Local Business Listings

The audit of your online presence will include your business’s listings on all the relevant online directories. These are, after all, where people go to find establishments like yours. You may already have your business listed on more than one directory out there, but there are still many ways for your listings to rank even higher on Google searches.

For instance:

You’ll need to hunt down and delete any duplicate entries within the same online directory, as duplicate entries may result in ALL your entries on that site de-indexed from Google

Find other online directories your business is NOT listed in yet, and sign on up

Make sure ALL your listings have the same contact information as in your website – completely updated and responsive

Content and Image Marketing

Next, you’ll need to strengthen your website’s ranking by building relevant backlinks to it. This is (still) best done with the right kinds of content marketing – article marketing, blog posting, and so on.

It’s also a good idea to start building and strengthening your brand with the creation of images with your logo, which you can share on your social media profiles.

Images can also be optimized with geo tags, so the search engines will have an easier time realizing that you’re a local business who wants to be found in local searches.

Customer Reviews and Testimonials

What do people say about your business? If they’ve been saying good things about you, don’t be shy – ask them to leave a positive review on the online directories where they found you! People trust the feedback of other people almost without question.

If you have a marketer or marketing team working for you, they can do this part of the job for you, too. But even if you had to do it yourself, don’t hesitate to ask for positive testimonials from satisfied customers. You don’t get what you don’t ask for!

Mobile Check-in Promos

Google+, Facebook Places, Foursquare, and other social media platforms and apps have “check-in” features, where customers can register a “check-in” on your business’s online profile when they visit your establishment in the real world.

This is a great opportunity to hold “check-in contests,” where you can offer a freebie, a discount, or some other promo to people who check into your business on certain dates.

If your establishment is a coffee shop, you can give away free cups of coffee, or a discount on the second drink. If you own a donut shop, you can give away a free donut for every check-in.

Satisfied, excited customers are more likely to “Share” your check-in contest with their friends, driving even more customers through your front door!

Social Media Updates

And finally, don’t forget the most mundane, but also one of the most important marketing habits to keep: Update your social media profiles regularly. Google Plus Local Marketing is all about keeping your business in your potential customers’ radar, so that when the time comes that they need to avail of your product or service, you’ll be the first to come to mind, and not your competition!

If you are interesting in learning more about social media marketing we recommend checking out the FREE tutorials on offer at the Wealthy Affiliate. Read our full review on their services by clicking the link below:

hi Chris
those are great tips for someone who has a small business. You will not make sales if no one knows you exist. And nowadays there are so many sites where people can list their businesses and customers can leave comments. I think social media is for sure a big part of it. As a business owner, you need to keep people engaged, so updating statuses and sharing news is very important. And I love the idea of the check in contest!

Hey Emily, nice to hear from you!
Yeah social media is definitely a powerful marketing medium for all types of businesses ( no matter how big or small they are ). Keeping an updated profile and being as engaged as possible will always give you an advantage.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your opinion 🙂

great article to get started with online presence, I completely agree that you must optimize for local searches. Furthermore, I think desktop searches are now for the most part local as well. Users are logging in, websites and Google read your cookies and even in an incognito tab, your IP is still available to Google and the websites that you visit, which affects your search results. So even if your product is a high involvement type that is generally researched at home, local marketing is a must for nearly everyone. Great read, will be back for more soon!

Hi Konstantin,
Great points you covered there – certain algorithms certainly effect your end search results in Google! Thanks for stopping by and adding to the conversation. Look forward to hearing from you again 🙂